Nosferatu (fish)

{{Automatic taxobox | image = Herichthys pame.jpg | image_caption = ''Nosferatu pame'' | taxon = Nosferatu | authority = De la Maza-Benignos, Ornelas-García, Lozano-Vilano, García-Ramírez & Doadrio, 2015 | type_species = ''Herichthys pame'' | type_species_authority = De la Maza-Benignos & Lozano-Vilano, 2013 }}

'''''Nosferatu''''' is a proposed genus of cichlid fishes endemic to the Río Pánuco Basin and the tributaries of the adjacent Tamiahua Lagoon (to the South) and San Andrés Lagoon (to the North)<ref name="De la Maza-Benignos et al 2015" /> in the states of Veracruz, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas and Querétaro,<ref>{{cite report |last1=Soto-Galera |first1=E. |last2=Alcántara-Soria |first2=L.|last3=Paulo-Maya |first3=J. |year=2011 |title=Estado actual de la ictiofauna dulceacuícola de la provincia del complejo Tamesí-Pánuco |publisher=Instituto Politécnico Nacional. Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas. Informe Final SNIB-CONABIO Proyecto No. FM027. México, D.F. |url=http://www.conabio.gob.mx/institucion/proyectos/resultados/InfFM027.pdf }}</ref> Mexico. The genus is characterized by a prolongation in the size of the symphysial pair of teeth relative to that of the other teeth in the outer row of the upper jaw (nosferatuform teeth); breeding pigmentation that consists of darkening of ventral area extending over nostrils, opercular series, and pectoral fins; depressed dorsal fin rarely expands beyond anterior third of caudal fin; and an elongated, elastic, smooth caecum adhered to a saccular stomach.<ref name="De la Maza-Benignos et al 2015">{{cite journal |last1=de la Maza-Benignos |first1=Mauricio |last2=Ornelas-García |first2=Claudia Patricia |last3=Lozano-Vilano |first3=María de Lourdes |last4=García-Ramírez |first4=María Elena |last5=Doadrio |first5=Ignacio |title=Phylogeographic analysis of genus ''Herichthys'' (Perciformes: Cichlidae), with descriptions of Nosferatu new genus and H. tepehua n. sp. |journal=Hydrobiologia |date=April 2015 |volume=748 |issue=1 |pages=201–231 |doi=10.1007/s10750-014-1891-8 |bibcode=2015HyBio.748..201D |hdl=10261/126238 |s2cid=16769534 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

All species in ''Nosferatu'' had previously belonged to genus ''Herichthys''.<ref name="De la Maza-Benignos et al 2015" /><ref>{{cite book |chapter=''Herichthys'' |pages=635–636 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9tiDHrzxf9QC&pg=PA635 |editor1-last=Reis |editor1-first=Roberto E. |editor1-link=Roberto Esser dos Reis |editor2-last=Kullander |editor2-first=Sven O. |editor2-link=Sven Oscar Kullander |editor3-last=Ferraris |editor3-first=Carl J. |title=Check List of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America |date=2003 |publisher=EDIPUCRS |isbn=978-85-7430-361-1 }}</ref><ref name=MazaBenignos2013>{{cite journal |last1=de la Maza-Benignos |first1=Mauricio |last2=Lozano-Vilano |first2=Ma De Lourdes |title=Description of three new species of the genus ''Herichthys'' (Perciformes: Cichlidae) from eastern Mexico, with redescription of ''H. labridens'', ''H. steindachneri'', and ''H. pantostictus'' |journal=Zootaxa |date=6 November 2013 |volume=3734 |issue=2 |pages=101–129 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.3734.2.1 |pmid=25277902 |s2cid=32123445 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Paepke |first1=Hans-joachim |last2=Morgenstern |first2=Rico |last3=Schindler |first3=Ingo |title=Cichlid fishes (Teleostei, Cichlidae) collected by Ferdinand Deppe in Mexico |journal=Vertebrate Zoology |date=16 May 2014 |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=43–57 |doi=10.3897/vz.64.e31462 |doi-access=free |citeseerx=10.1.1.692.5948 }}</ref><ref name=Oldfield2014>{{cite journal |last1=Oldfield |first1=Ronald G. |last2=Mandrekar |first2=Kapil |last3=Nieves |first3=M. Xavier |last4=Hendrickson |first4=Dean A. |last5=Chakrabarty |first5=Prosanta |last6=Swanson |first6=Brook O. |last7=Hofmann |first7=Hans A. |title=Parental care in the Cuatro Ciénegas cichlid, ''Herichthys minckleyi'' (Teleostei: Cichlidae) |journal=Hydrobiologia |date=April 2015 |volume=748 |issue=1 |pages=233–257 |doi=10.1007/s10750-014-2081-4 |bibcode=2015HyBio.748..233O |s2cid=17487888 |url=https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1791&context=biosci_pubs |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Species== There were 7 species proposed for this genus:<ref name="De la Maza-Benignos et al 2015"/> * ''Nosferatu bartoni'' (T. H. Bean, 1892) (Barton's cichlid) * ''Nosferatu labridens'' (Pellegrin, 1903) (Curve-bar cichlid) * ''Nosferatu molango'' (De la Maza-Benignos & Lozano-Vilano, 2013) (Aztec cichlid) <ref name=MazaBenignos2013/> * ''Nosferatu pame'' (De la Maza-Benignos & Lozano-Vilano, 2013)<ref name=MazaBenignos2013/> * ''Nosferatu pantostictus'' (J. N. Taylor & R. R. Miller, 1983) (Chairel cichlid) * ''Nosferatu pratinus'' (De la Maza-Benignos & Lozano-Vilano, 2013)<ref name=MazaBenignos2013/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ratnasingham |first1=Sujeevan |last2=Hebert |first2=Paul D. N. |title=BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data System |journal=Molecular Ecology Notes |date=24 January 2007 |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=355–364 |doi=10.1111/j.1471-8286.2007.01678.x |pmid=18784790 |pmc=1890991 }}</ref> * ''Nosferatu steindachneri'' (D. S. Jordan & Snyder, 1899) (Steindachner's cichlid) These species are currently placed in genus ''Herichthys''.<ref>{{FishBase|genus=Nosferatu |url=https://fishbase.de/Nomenclature/ScientificNameSearchList.php?crit1_value=Nosferatu|access-date=21 October 2024}}</ref>

==Phylogenetics== Separate analysis of the mitochondrial gene ''Cox1'' by León-Romero ''et al.'' and by De la Maza-Benignos, ''et al.'' confirmed the monophyly of the genus group, and revealed the existence of three clades within:<ref name="De la Maza-Benignos et al 2015"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=León-Romero |first1=Yatzil |last2=Mejía |first2=Omar |last3=Soto-Galera |first3=Eduardo |title=DNA barcoding reveals taxonomic conflicts in the ''Herichthys bartoni'' species group (Pisces: Cichlidae) |journal=Molecular Ecology Resources |date=November 2012 |volume=12 |issue=6 |pages=1021–1026 |doi=10.1111/1755-0998.12018 |pmid=23006448 |s2cid=26372288 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The paraphyletic<ref name="De la Maza-Benignos et al 2015"/> ''bartoni'' clade, conformed by sympatric ''N. labridens'' and ''N. bartoni''; the paraphyletic<ref name="De la Maza-Benignos et al 2015"/> (in their study León-Romero ''et al.'' did not consider ''N. pame'' nor included ''N. pratinus'' and consequently report monophyly) ''steindachneri'' clade, conformed of the allopatric ''N. pratinus'', and sympatric ''N. pame'' and ''N. steindachneri''; and the monophyletic ''pantostictus'' clade (in the study by León-Romero ''et al.'' some of the lineages of ''N. pantostictus'' are misidentified as ''N. labridens''; consequently they report polyphyly) composed of the nominal species ''N. pantostictus''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=de la Maza-Benignos |first1=Mauricio |last2=Lozano-Vilano |first2=Ma de Lourdes |last3=García-Ramírez |first3=María Elena |last4=de la Maza-Benignos |first4=Mauricio |last5=Lozano-Vilano |first5=Ma de Lourdes |last6=García-Ramírez |first6=María Elena |title=Response paper: Morphometric article by Mejía et al. 2015 alluding genera Herichthys and Nosferatu displays serious inconsistencies |journal=Neotropical Ichthyology |date=December 2015 |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=673–676 |doi=10.1590/1982-0224-20150066 |doi-access=free }}</ref> In comparison to ''Herichthys'', high levels of intrageneric divergence and structure within ''Nosferatu'' were revealed.

==Evolution== Divergence time for the split between ''Herichthys'' and ''Nosferatu'' has been estimated in ~5 Mya. During these times (i.e. Miocene-Pliocene), intense regional vulcanism led to the formation of the graben structure that conforms the sedimentary Rio Verde Basin;<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Planer-Friedrich |first1=Britta |title=Hydrogeological and hydrochemical investigations in the Rioverde basin, Mexico |journal=Freiberg Online Geoscience |date=2000 |doi=10.23689/fidgeo-871 }}</ref> and the drain-less depression was filled by a number of endorheic shallow lakes, where ''Nosferatu'' evolved into the ''bartoni'' (~3 Mya), ''steindacheri'' (~2 Mya) and ''pantostictus'' (~2 Mya) clades. Later on (~1.8 Mya), as regional faulting rejoined the Rio Verde with the Pánuco Basin during the course of the Pleistocene, the genus re-invaded the Pánuco, this time with the evolved mechanisms of reproductive isolation that allows its sympatry with ''Herichthys''.<ref name="De la Maza-Benignos et al 2015"/>

==Name== The name of this genus, ''Nosferatu'', was given because of the pair of well-developed recurved fangs in the upper jaw present possessed by all species of the genus; these were said to be reminiscent of those of Count Orlok in F. W. Murnau's ''Nosferatu''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://etyfish.org/name-of-the-week2015/ |title=Name of the Week 2015| work = The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database |date=7 January 2015 | publisher = Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Heroini Category:Cichlid genera Category:Controversial fish taxa Category:Obsolete vertebrate taxa Category:Taxa named by Ignacio Doadrio Villarejo Category:Taxa named by Mauricio de la Maza-Benignos Category:Taxa named by María de Lourdes Lozano-Vilano fish Category:Taxa named by Claudia Patricia Ornelas García